STEVENS POINT – Emotions were running high in the championship game of the Class AAA regional at Bukolt Park on Friday night.

Nick Schroeder came jumping off the mound after a strikeout to end the sixth inning. Alex Lee flexed after a strikeout to end the fifth inning and had some words for anyone who would listen.

Every runner that crossed home plate was greeted by high fives everywhere and a shoulder bump or three.

There was little doubt what a fifth straight Region 2 title meant to the Black Sox.

Alex Slowey had two hits, including a go-ahead home run, while three pitchers combined on a six-hitter and Plover knocked off Marshfield 8-3 to earn a spot at the state tournament in Watertown.

“This game meant so much, I didn’t want this to end yet,” said Lee, who was the winning pitcher. “No one did, none of the other guys did, especially the older guys. We knew that and we had to do something about it.”

Marshfield forced a second championship game with a 7-1 win earlier Friday.

Jake Brueggen turned in a brilliant eight-inning performance on the mound. He allowed one run and six hits with a strikeout.

With a state berth within reach, however, the Blue Devils self-destructed, booting the ball around for seven errors. That directly led to seven of the first eight runs for the Black Sox.

The loss was the fourth in five meetings this season with Plover for the Blue Devils.

“Seven errors, your’re not going to win the game;” Marshfield coach John Southworth said. “It’s a totally different game when you don’t give them extra at-bats and extra runners on base.

“The difference is you catch it in one game and you don’t in the other,” Southworth added. “I don’t know what else to tell you.”

The Blue Devils’ ultimate undoing came in the top of the seventh inning when Plover tacked on four huge insurance runs thanks to four errors by Post 54.

With a five-run cushion and ace Cal Giese left with three innings, the Black Sox brought in the left-hander to seal the deal and he retired nine of the 10 batters he faced, with four strikeouts.

Lee gutted out five innings and left with the Black Sox clinging to a 4-3 lead.

The right-hander threw 122 pitches just two days earlier in a win over Wausau, but emptied the tank with a state tournament berth on the line. Schroeder also tossed a scoreless inning.

“After losing that first one, and trying to figure out who we want to pitch, when kids come up to you and say hey, ‘I want to pitch,’ is just huge,” Plover coach Wayne Sankey said.

“It just shows that we’ve got a bunch of old guys, they battle and they’ve been there before and they came through in the clutch again.”

Much of the offense was supplied by Slowey who continued to be a huge power source for Plover.

He unloaded for his fourth home run of the regional to put Post 54 up 3-2 in the fourth. Jamison Kryshak added a two-run single in the second to get the Black Sox offense going after a quiet first title game.

What would a regional championship game be without a little controversy?

Shane Coker was called for runner interference after a hard slide in the bottom of the fifth. The umpires met for five minutes and reversed the call.

Marshfield used the overturned call to to trim the deficit to 4-3 on a wild pitch to score Mitch Susa, but in the end its defense let the Blue Devils down.

Both teams eventually shrugged it off and the Black Sox found a way to reach the state tournament yet again.

“The last two years we’ve been really good,” Southworth said. “The other thing about this whole thing is this region does very good in the state tournament and all year round. I’m willing to bet Plover and ourselves are probably two of the best eight teams in the state, Unfortunately, we’re 30 miles apart.”